Back to search results »

Back to search page »

Bendigo Cemetery

Location Carpenter Street,, BENDIGO VIC 3550 - Property No B6823 File Number B6823 Level State

[1/1] B6823 Bendigo Cemetery

Statement of Significance

The Bendigo Cemetery as a whole is of State significance for the following reasons:
- its importance in the course of Victoria's cultural history as a sophisticated and substantially intact example of a Victorian provincial cemetery.
* It exhibits unusual cultural features associated with the development of Victorian provincial cemeteries. - its possession of uncommon aspects of Australia's cultural history as a Victorian provincial cemetery.
* Its importance in demonstrating a distinctive way of life, custom, and design no longer practiced and in danger of being lost. It is of exceptional interest as most Victorian provincial cemeteries no longer demonstrate their characteristic design as twentieth century overcrowding and neglect have generally resulted in the loss of earlier schemes.
* For its collection of trees and plants, including a fine pair of Himalayan Cedars (Cedrus deodara) located next to the Burke and Wills monument, two healthy specimens of Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) growing near the Petticoat Palm (Washingtonia filifera), Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis), Golden Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa 'Horizontalis Aurea') and Carob (Ceratonia siliqua). It is believed that von Mueller supplied some of these specimens.
* For its collection of cast iron finger posts indicating 'Flower Walks' which tranversed the cemetery; names including Cosmos, Verbena, Wattle, Lavender, Gaillardia (misspelt as Giallardia), Myosotis, Wallflower, Pansy, Daphne, Fuchsia and Geranium. It is believed that this is the only example in Victoria of rows being named in this fashion.
- its potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia's cultural history.
* Its importance for information contributing to a wider understanding of Australian history, by virtue of its use as a research and reference site.
* Its importance for information contributing to a wider understanding of the history of human occupation of Australia. For example by providing information about the patterns of deaths in Bendigo by age, religion and family; and sometimes giving causes, occupations and other information. By illustrating the importance of homelands in epitaphs and also by demonstrating the range of technical and craft skills and materials available.
* For trees planted in the later decades last century, and therefore of some botanical interest as being fine, surviving specimens in Bendigo.
* For its value as a historical record, a collection of individual memorials, its continuity and security, for the manner in which it inspires a respect for the dead, as a social document, and for its role in education and recreation.
- its importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of : (I) A class of Australia's cultural places, being Victorian provincial cemeteries.
* Its importance in demonstrating the principal attributes which are characteristic of the class. These are: an ornamental boundary fence, curvilinear paths and landscaping, highlighting of topographical contours with established view lines and landmark features, provision of recreational facilities such as rotundas, symbolic plantings, and high quality Victorian buildings, enclosures and monuments.
* Its importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the range of human activities in the Australian environment (including way of life, custom, process, land use, function, design or technique). It demonstrates the Victorian approach of seeing burial grounds also as a public park. For health reasons the cemetery was located outside Bendigo city centre but was designed to be an attractive destination for visitors.
- its importance in exhibiting Victorian aesthetic characteristics valued by the community.
* Its importance to the community for aesthetic characteristics held in high esteem is demonstrated in the value of the cemetery as a place of picturesque beauty, a public park, the vistas and views within the cemetery, and also in that twentieth century development respected the earlier design.
- its importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement of the late nineteenth century period.
* importance for technical, creative, design or artistic excellence, innovation or achievement, including the Mortuary Chapel, gates, stone fence, hitching posts, two rotundas and Chinese funerary chimney of state significance and the cemetery's collection of memorials, tombstones and other funerary art.
- its strong or special associations with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
* Its importance as a place highly valued by the Bendigo community for reasons of religious, spiritual, symbolic, cultural, educational and social associations. Bendigo Cemetery has special associations for the local community because of its ongoing and continual use over 140 years.
- its special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria's natural or cultural history.
* Its importance for close associations with individuals whose activities have been significant within the history of the region and are illustrated in the monuments and epitaphs to them, including Ballerstedt, J.G.T. Christopher; Burke & Wills; Cullen, Charles; and McGrath, William Langton.
Classified: 10/10/1997

See also B2561 Chapel, Bendigo Cemetery & B3051 Hitching Posts, (outside) Bendigo Cemetery.